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Last year, it was the harrowing story of crippled rugby player Matt Hampson Engage! that attracted the strongest approval among sports book fans participating in an online poll; in 2011 it was Anthony Clavane's Promised Land, a beautifully crafted history of a football team, a city and a culture.Pictures from the awards evening at Lord's

So which of nine category winners from the 2013 British Sports Book Awards will emerge as overall Times Sports Book of the Year when voting closes at midnight on June 7?

The accolade is one that readers themselves can determine, rather than a panel of judges, by linking to this page and nominating which of the titles honoured at this week's awards ceremony at Lord's Cricket Ground they think deserves to be granted the highest recognition.

These are the nine category winners who make up the list to be put to an online public vote, with links to selected reviews.

"In unobtrusively beautiful prose, he (Finn) evokes the will to run at the heart of Kenyan life...he quietly reminds us why running, “this primal urge” that every child feels, is as mysteriously human as anything we do." -- Rowland Manthorpe (The Telegraph online). Read the full review here.

"Walsh’s persistence and refusal to give into the bullying tactics of the Texan were clearly vital towards accelerating the process of his downfall... cycling fans should certainly be grateful now that Walsh chose to dedicate such a significant portion of his career to bringing the truth to light." -- Freddie Shires (Sports Gazette). Read the full review here.

"At no stage of the book does Haigh purport to really know the man. Instead he concentrates on the cricketer, and as a writer of rare gifts, does his subject a great service by painting some of the most compelling word pictures of his craft ever put to print." -- Daniel Brettig (Cricinfo). Read the full review here.

"It is a sterling work of journalism...a window into a remarkable time in the history of this delight of a football club. It makes something seemingly absurd...make perfect sense." -- Barcelona Football Blog. Read the full review here.

"Reid’s book will bring to life a heady mixture of professionalism and amateurism that was indicative of the sport between the wars...it will also explain why a lawyer from Atlanta, Georgia, was treated with such high regard by an adoring public." -- Bob Warters (www.golfmagic.com). Read the full review here.

"A beautifully presented book penned to perfection by former Times racing correspondent Julian Muscat...a carefully woven tale of a monarch truly in love with the sport of racing in which she has enjoyed a huge amount of success." -- Newmarket Journal. Read the full review here.

"The author’s turn of phrase alternates between the poetic and the wry (appropriately enough for a book dealing with the tragedies, triumphs and absurdities of war), but the most captivating segments are the diary entries and letters home...emphasising the true sadness of lives so brutally cut short." -- The Village. Read the full review here.

"For many (TT riders), the challenge seems addictive. As is this book; by the end you might not share these men's passion, but you begin to understand, even admire it." -- Simon Redfern (The Independent). Read the full review here.

"Where this book really performs over the scores of other post-Wiggins-victory fare is in Scott Mitchell's pictures, which include shots of a furious post-crash Mark Cavendish on the team bus in Rouen, Bernhard Eisel having his eyebrow stitched after the same incident, and countless quiet, private moments with Wiggins and the rest of the team." -- Ben Atkins (www.velonation.com). Read the full review here.

ITALIAN BACKDROP FOR NEW CRIME NOVEL

Death in the High Cityis a new crime novel set in Bergamo, northern Italy.The novel is the first in a series featuring detective duo Kate Butler, a freelance journalist, and Steve Bartorelli, a retired Detective Chief Inspector who is of Italian descent.

Death in the High City, believed to be the first crime novel in which the beautiful and historic city of Bergamo provides the backdrop, is available from Amazon in paperback and as an e-book.

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Titles, where indicated, can also be purchased from Waterstones or WH Smith.